H I V
H I V
the little white worms which are depofited in the bottoms of the cells, and are hereafter to be bees like themfelves. It has been long fmce obferved, that in every Hive there is always one bee, much larger than the reft, to which they all pay obedience as their fovereign. It was a very natural thought to call this the king of the bees ; and the creature enjoyed that title in fucccflion for many centuries, till Butler, an En- glim writer, publifhed a book entitled Monorchia feminina, the female monarchy. In this he proved inconteftibly, that this great bee was always a female, and that if any title was to be given to it, it was to be that of queen. He calls the whole a nation of amazons, and fuppofes all the common bees females. Swammerdam finally proved this queen of the bees to be properly the mother bee, and has clearly fhewn that this creature is fo prodigioufly prolific, that fhe is able to people a whole Hive, and that every one of thefe is the mo- ther of the whole fwarm, the common bees never either be- getting or bringing forth any young ones, tho' both Butler, and all the writers before his time, had fuppofed it. The great fecundity of this female is the lefs to be wondered at, when we confider the number of males that fhe has at her fervice ; the males, or drones, in any Hive being, at the proper feafons, always feveral hundreds, and fometimes even two or three thoufand. Thefe fpend all their lives in the fervice of one female, and are the joint fathers of this nume- rous offspring. If they live with two or three, as it fome- times happens, this is at the utmoft only for a few days. At moll feafons of the year there is only one female in each Hive, which is eafily diftlngui died from the common bees by her fize, and from the males, or drones, by the length of her body ; her wings are alfo much fhorter than thofe of any of the other bees ; thofe both of the common bees, and of the drones, always are fo long as to cover the whole body, but thofe of the female cover but a part of hers. They reach only to the third ring of the body, all beyond that being left naked. Tho' there is one of thefe bees in every Hive, and tho' file is thus eafily diftinguifhed at fight from the reft, yet few have ever feen her. She is always clofe cover'd in the Hive, and many people who make a trade of honey- making;, tho' they annually open numbers of Hives, never faw a fe- male in their lives.
The feveral accounts given by authors, of the deference and ho- mage paid by the other bees to this queen and mother, appearing fufpicious, as to its truth, Mr. Reaumur was determined to try the experiment that might determine the truth of them. He caufed a parcel of bees from among a large clufter, which had gone out in manner of a colony from an old Hive to find a new habitation, to be fwept down into a glafs Hive ; among thefe there happened to be a female bee. While they were all together in the Hive, it was eafy to diftinguifh her from the reft by her fhape, and the fhortnefs of her wings. In the firft mo- ments after this imprifonment, the female walked by herfelf in a folitary manner at the bottom of the Hive, the reft being all in the utmoft confufton, and feeming to take no thought but for their own fafety. The female, after going up the fides of the Hive twice or thrice in vain to the top of it, where they were hung, at laft going in among the clufter, brought a dozen, or thereabouts down with her : Thefe attended her in the manner of a guard, as fhe walked along flowly at the bottom of the Hive-, but the reft continuing at the top, fhe went up among them again and again, till at length they all came down, and formed a circle about her, leaving a free paffage wherever me turned herfelf to walk, and feeding her with the honey they had collected for their own nourifhment. It was a common fight to fee a bee that was near her put out its trunk toher, to fuck the honey out of it; and often, asfhe pafled along, fhe would put out her own trunk to any that fhe pafTed by. And the bees always feemed pleafed with an op- portunity of thus fupplying her.
The bees were kept fome time in this Hive, which was a fmall one, but large enough for more than their number ; the female bee, however, feemed to find that it would not be large enough for the family fhe was to raife ; and confequently af- ter getting all the reft about her, fhe went out and flew to a tree in the neighbourhood, where fhe fettled ; all the bees of the Hive followed her, and form'd a clufter on the branch in the common way.
In this manner the bees will always follow their queen where- ever fhe goes ; and Swammerdam obferves, that if the female, or queen, as fhe is called, be tied by one of the legs to a flick, all the bees of the fwarm will gather in a clufter about her, hanging by the legs one to another, and may be carried any where by removing the ftick.
Nature feems to have informed the common bees, that it is their proper care to bring up and feed the offspring of this fe- male, and therefore it is no wonder that they always flock about her. Father Labbat, who has decorated his accounts of his voyages with many odd ftories, has been fufpected of falfity m an inftance, in which the knowledge of this fecret in the nature of bees, would have wholly cleared his credit. Reaumer\ Hift. Inf. v. 9. p. 323.
He fays that he, fomewherc in his travels met with a man who called himfelf the bee-mafter, for that wherever he went the bees always followed him in fwarms, and that he was cq-|
vered over with clufters of them, in the fame manner as they fwarm upon a tree, his hatj head, and flioulders, nay, his whole body being covered with them, and whole troops of others following him in the air. It was fuppofed by thofe who faw this man, that he had the fecret of knowing certain plants which the bees loved, and of rubbing himfelf over with their juices ; but it is plain that any man here might do the fame thing, without any farther trouble than the getting a female bee tied by one kg to his hat, or fome other part ot his cl oaths.
If the female of a fwarm by any means be dirtied, the whole fet of bees that are round her, try which fhall be moft fer- viceable in the cleaning of her ; and in the cold weather they gather in clufters about her to keep her warm. The refpect thus paid to the queen, as fhe is called, is not however pecu- liar to her, but the fame is fhewn to all other bees of that fex, any female that happens to come into the Hive being received with as great refpedf as the peculiar one which belongs to it; and this even to a third or fourth. It is probably very feldom that thefe occafions of courtefy hap- pen ; but Mr. Reaumur took feveral females, and put them at feveral times into the fame fwarm of bees, which he kept in a glafs Hive, to fee how they would be received. He took care to mark thefe fo that they might be known from the proper female of the Hive, and painted the breaft of one red, that of the others blue or yellow. Thefe he found were" all as well received in the Hive as the proper female, which was the mother of the fwarm. HIVING, the placing a fwarm of bees in a Hive, in order to have the profit of their labours. When the fwarm of bees has left an old hive, and is placed in form of a clufter hang- ing down from the branch of fome fhrub or low bufh, the hiving is extremely eafy, and may be done in half an hour after the time of their being ftill, and calm in the clufter ; or it may be let alone till an hour or two before funfet, provi- ded that the fun do not fhine too vehemently upon the place where they are, for that would difquiet them, and force them, to rife ; and in that cafe they ufually take a long flight before they fettle again, and are very often loft ; this however may at any time be prevented, by placing an artificial fcreen be- fore them, compofed either of a coarfe cloth, or of a few branches of trees well covered with leaves. Thofe authors who fpeak largely of the ceconomy of bees, give the new queen a fet of officers, whofe bufinefs it is to fettle the proper places of refort ; and they pretend that thefe bees go out of the hive a day or two before the fwarm iffues out, in order to fix upon a proper place. This however ap- pears but a romantic conjecture, and we ufually find the bees bufied in fearch of a place, while the whole fwarm is in the air ; nor is it much to their credit, that they chufe fuch places as they do, for they ufually fix in fuch as they can by no means fubfift in. Reaumur's Hift. Inf. v. 10. p. 299. It is commonly the branch of fome fhrub or tree that they fettle upon, and we always find that they mean this as their fettled habitation ; for however foon they are hived, the ru- diments and beginnings of combs are found on it. It is true, they always leave thefe places, , if left to themfelves, in five or fix days; but this is not till they find them fo inconvenient that they cannot keep them, either from their being too much fcorched by the fun, or expofed to winds and rain. The quantity of wax and honey left in thefe places, when they have quitted them, abundantly proves however that they had meant them for their fixed abode.
When they are placed in a hive, they very foon find them- felves much better lodged than in the place they had provi- ded for themfelves, and they ufually ftay in it, and begin to work the next morning.
It might appear a very difficult talk to get fo large a number of bees into a hive, but it is much lefs fo than it appears to be. They will often take poffeffion of the hive of their own accord when it is hung over them ; but the fhorteft way is to hold the hive under the branch where they are, and then fweep them down into it. This may be done with a branch of a tree with its leaves on it, or with the hand armed with a ftrong glove, and the face covered. But there are country fellows who will go without any fort of defence, and with their naked hand fweep them carefully off the bough into the hive, which they hold in the other hand underneath. It is not to be expected that the whole fwarm will be thus fwept peaceably into the hive, many will fly away, and many clufters will fall befide the hive to the ground. AH this how- ever creates no difficulty, for the hive being turned bottom upwards, and fet on the ground near the tree, with its edges a little raifed above the furface. Thofe bees which fell in clufters to the ground, will foon crawl to their companions in the hive ; and foon after thofe which flew off, will defcend and follow their example. If it happen however that fome bees will obftinately keep to the place where they at firft fix'd themfelves, the branch is to be rubb'd over with the juice of fuch plants as thefe creatures hate the fmell of, fuch are elder, rue, and fome others. And if this does not fuc- ceed, there muft be linnen rags burnt under them, the fmoak of which will foon drive them off, and make them join their companions, who find themfelves more at eafe in the hive.
As
